Attempts by some politicians and their aides to bribe voters in the high-stakes byelection to Huzurabad Assembly constituency slated for October 30 boomeranged on them when a section of voters in several villages of the constituency stooped to a new low by staging dharna brazenly demanding cash for votes amid allegations of large-scale distribution of money.
As video clips of alleged distribution of sealed covers containing cash by some politicians in several villages went viral on Thursday, a day after the high-octane electioneering that ended on Wednesday evening, some villagers staged sit-in protest in Peddapapapaiahpalli, Rampur, Katrapalli and a few other villages against those who allegedly distributed cash to select voters.
In Rampur village, some aggrieved residents squatted on the main road in the village accusing some local leaders of distributing cash to voters of their choice, deliberately ignoring them with narrow political machinations.
Similar incidents were reported from Gangaram village in Veenavanka mandal, Rangapur village in Huzurabad mandal, and a few villages in Kamalapuram mandal.
Police had a tough time controlling the protesters during their sit-in demonstrations amid chaos.
Videos of the protests went viral as some angry protesters comprising women were seen expressing their ire at the persons behind rampant distribution of money in villages and blaming them for creating unrest in villages ahead of Saturday’s by-election.
Official sources, however, said that the vigorous drive against the menace of money power led to seizure of ₹3.31 crore cash until Wednesday evening in the entire Assembly constituency.
As many as 2,36,873 voters are expected to exercise their franchise in Saturday’s byelection in which TRS candidate G Srinivas Yadav, BJP candidate Eatala Rajender, and Congress candidate Balmuri Venkat Narsing Rao are locked in a fierce contest.
Large contingents of State police and the Central Armed Police Forces were deployed in all the five mandals of the constituency.
